T he author of more than 60 books, bestseller Miller pounds out another frontier romance loaded with hot lead, steamy sex and surprising plot twists. Rowdy Rhodes is the handsome hunk newly arrived in Stone Creek, Arizona Territory, in 1905. He’s living under an assumed name and trying to change his criminal ways, but his plans to go straight go awry when he meets pretty Lark Morgan, a sophisticated local schoolteacher who is secretly on the run from a rich, abusive husband back in Denver. As they flirt, spar and try to keep their own secrets, felonious family members and other more lethal pursuers threaten them both. When Rowdy is tasked with catching the gang of train-robbing outlaws led by his own father, he is in a real dilemma. Between trysts with Lark under the horse blankets and aided by an unlikely tip, Rowdy saves the day after a terrific shootout. He can’t, however, save Lark, whose salvation comes in an unexpected and satisfying plot twist. After the last owlhoot hits the dust and the smoke and secrets are cleared up, this zippy horse opera comes to a predictable and comforting ending. (July)